Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

The fierce Ambacti warriors were excellent swordsmen, and were feared throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.

Description

These warriors, known as Ambacti, were excellent swordsmen and feared throughout Europe and the Mediterranean; they were at the forefront of any Celtic army and widely found as mercenaries.

The Celtic Ambacti were recruited from amongst the nobility and warriors of the Celtic tribe, and were seasoned fighters and lavishly equipped, seeking to demonstrate their wealth and status in their equipment. Celts were famed for being taller than the peoples of the Mediterranean, muscular, fair-skinned and fair-haired. Most men wear flowing moustaches and short beards.

The Celtic Ambacti wore a mail shirt, made of interlocking rings, which was invented by the Celtic in the fourth century BC. The mail shirt had shoulder pieces cut like those of Greek cuirasses, which did not overhang the shoulders. The bronze helmet was of the Montefortino-type, adorned with a black plume and cheek-pieces.

The principal weapon of the Celtic warrior was the long slashing sword, 75-90 cm long, wielded one-handed, and brought down from above the head in wild blows. The sword was the weapon of the high-status warrior. Celtic swords, like Spanish, were a by-word for strength and quality. They wore woollen breeches and tunic, woven or embroidered into brightly coloured and rich patterns. The Ambacti carried the typical Celtic shield, large, oval in shape, flat, made of leather-covered wood, very like the Italian scutum. They also carried javelins, to be cast at the enemy prior to the charge.

Known as "the Keltoi" or the "Galatae" by the Greeks, and "Celtae" or "Galli" by the Romans - they were one of the great barbarian peoples of Europe. Celtic tribes were found stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to the upper Danube, and in 279-76 some Celtic tribes settled in the Balkans (Scordisci) and even Asia-Minor (Galatians).

In the middle of the fifth century BC the Celts came to be dominated by the so-called "La Tene" culture. With its epicentre in the middle Rhineland and the regions north of the Alps, the La Tene culture was typified by a warrior dominated social system and a common material culture, with active trade connections with both the Greek colonists of the Golfe du Lion (esp. Massalia) and the Etruscans of northern Italy.

In c. 400 BC tribes of La Tene Celtic migrated into the Po Valley, overran the Etruscans there, and the Boii, Insubres and Cenomani permanently settled northern Italy; at this same time La Tene populations spread east, through the Danube corridor, settling Bohemia and the middle Danube. In c. 390 a Celtic horde sacked Rome itself, an event that left an indelible mark on the Roman folk memory. La Tene influences were also transmitted into the Iberian Peninsula, and were found among the Celtiberians there.

Celtic society was made up of extended families or clans, that grouped together to form territorially-based tribes. These were ruled by a king or high chief, although by the middle of the first century BC some of the more urban Celtic tribes in the Rhone Valley had come to be ruled by elected magistrates. Tribes were dominated by councils of elders and popular assemblies of all the free men of a tribe. Cattle thieving, slave raiding and vendettas ensured a constant level of low intensity warfare between Celtic clans and tribes. These warriors were bound by obligations of patronage and deference to individual chieftains, and their status was defined by their relationship with these chieftains, together with their own prowess and honour.

These Celtic warriors were found throughout the Mediterranean as heavy infantry mercenaries. They were recruited from the fifth century by Carthage for its war in Sicily, a practice that continued during the First Punic War (264-241). Hannibal depended upon Celtic warriors in the Second Punic War (218-202). From 385 Celtic mercenaries also appeared in Sicily in the armies of Dionysius I; in 367 one band of Celtic mercenaries was transported to Greece for service in the war between Sparta and Thebes. Celtic mercenaries were widely used by the Successor Kingdoms too. Bands of warriors willing to fight were available for employment and were seen as useful complements to the fighting force of aspiring tyrants. Mercenary service was an outlet for Celtic warriors to seek fame and fortune among the Mediterranean civilisations, and return home with reputations made.

There was a strong heroic ethos in Celtic society, and the Celtic Ambacti favoured gaining honour in conspicuous ways, particularly single combat. Diodorus Siculus describes how Celtic champions offered to fight single combats "... and when someone accepts their challenge to battle, they proudly recite the deeds of valour of their ancestors and proclaim their own valorous quality, at the same time abusing and making little of their opponent and generally attempting to rob him beforehand of his fighting spirit" (Diod. 5.29).

The Celts were head-hunters, and victorious warriors severed the heads of their enemies to keep as trophies, a gory custom that terrified their enemies. The ambush of Postumius in 216 BC resulted in his head being made into a gilded drinking cup for sacred occasions (Livy, 23.24). The Scordisci also used heads as drinking cups (Ammianus 17.4.4).

Prior to battle the Celtic warriors worked themselves into a battle frenzy, chanting and war-dancing (Diod. 5.31.1; Livy, 38.21), making noise with distinctive horns and trumpets (Diod. 5.30.5; Livy, 21.28). Finally, the Celtic army delivered a ferocious mass charge; if this charge failed to break through the enemy line, its momentum typically weakened. In general, Celtic tactics favoured battle in open country. The Ambacti fought defensively in close formations, often with overlapping shields, while in attack the formation loosened up in a wild charge.